Today I interviewed a sign writer, I think this would be particularly useful for this research brief and to talk to someone who actually does hand drawn type for a living.
I asked him some questions and made a lot of notes, here are the questions I asked:
How did you get into sign writing?
Well I always admired fairgrounds and the colours, paintings and type with in them, I suppose fairgrounds is what sparked it all off as a kid for me and then I started reading books on sign writing. Me and a friend from school used to buy toy lorries and sign write them for fun as a hobby, I knew I wanted to do this in the future. My Dad worked in Walsall and opposite one day there was a coach being sign written, Evans brothers coaches, so I asked him if I could watch him and I got to watch him every saturday since. I then got an apprentice with him for 7 years, the first 10 months of it though I wasn't even allowed to have a paint brush in my hand, we just watched.
What would you say are the main qualities to being a sign writer?
A steady hand, a good eye, to know your style, your typefaces and colours. The most important piece of advice my tutor always used to say to me though is to have confidence in yourself, sign writing can be a very nerve racking job when you start out but now its like riding a bike.
What is your favourite thing to sign write?
Vintage vehicles are my favourite as they are also my own personal interests, now about 60% of my work is narrow boats, I love that too.
Have stickers taken away a lot of your business?
No not really, It's taken a lot of the crap out the business, coach companies used to be so demanding and call you back all the time because the coaches couldn't pass the MOT without some specific things written on them, it was a nightmare, and coach companies expect things to be done in five minutes. The late nineties when stickers first got introduced was a very hard time for me, sign writers weren't doing much, but now my phone never stops ringing.
Where do you get your inspiration from?
Fairgrounds, books and transport, Fred Fowle has always been one of my biggest inspirations, I just love his lettering.
What are the ups and downs of sign writing?
The weather plays a big part of sign writing, cold and wet weather is not good however the heat can be just as hard to work in because of the oil paint. It can be a very lonley job, most days I can be in the middle of no where painting a canal barge or working in my studio, but I like being on my own, I go in my own little world, you get a lot of thinking time.
How do you get most of your business?
I don't really advertise, theres no name on my van, its just word of mouth really. But I do have a Facebook page called 'livery man'. Building your reputation can be hard, it takes years to build and five minutes to lose.
Is there much competition in sign writing?
You seem to gain your own section sign writing, I have the Walsall/ Birmingham section.
Do you choose the colours and fonts for the customer?
Everyone is different, some customers know exactly what they want and some customers are like 'surprise me'. I sketch out the designs first to give them an idea of what I'm going to do and present that to them first.
Have you ever 'surprised' a customer and it's gone wrong? Or have you ever had a customer not like your design? If so what do you do?
It's very very rare for a customer not to be happy with the design. You can change it if the paint is still tacky, but there does become a point where there is nothing you can do, and then you have to think about your reputation. I've know sign writers that have spelt things wrong before and that is a nightmare. But you always have to fix your mistakes.
Talking to Steve was a really good in site to sign writing and just how difficult it can be, he has been doing it for 30 years this year and still loves it all.
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